Published: Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 3:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, July 26, 2013 at 11:19 p.m.

Jerry Helms doesn't ask for much.

Facts

Fishing for northern home buyers? Here's some bait

TRAFFIC AND TAXES: Both of which are greatly reduced compared to life in the Northeast.

WEATHER: North Carolina has four seasons, like up North, without the snow, says Jerry Helms, sales director for a large Brunswick County community. “South Carolina, Georgia and Florida basically have 12 months of hot.”

LOCATION: Being close to Wilmington, the beaches, even Raleigh and Charlotte means arriving I-95ers can find somewhat similar arts and entertainment to what they're used to.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY: More to the point ‘Upper' Brunswick County, with newer infrastructures to accommodate boomer expectations.

AGING IN PLACE: Brunswick has created a village of partners on site, like New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Lowe's and BB&T and Pizetta's Pizza, to meet homeowners' needs and wants.

"I'll take a 3-minute sit-down with someone interested in moving down to Brunswick Forest anytime, over just about anything else," says Helms, director of sales for the 4,500-acre community in upper Brunswick County. "They'll see my enthusiasm. They'll know my genuineness."

No question, he's the real deal – born and raised in the Oak Island area, a graduate of South Brunswick High and UNC-Wilmington, a sales ace previously for 16 years at St. James Plantation, and deacon in the Southport Baptist Church. We're not dealing with Harold Hill or 76 trombones here.

In fact, a drumbeat of sales success is being heard again at communities of new homes along Southeastern North Carolina, expanding, self-contained areas dotted with portfolios of adorable and diverse floor plans, loads of amenities and various safe, pleasing outdoor environments that let boomers happily age their own way.

Places like Brunswick Forest, St. James Plantation and Porters Neck Plantation, which is closing in on a quarter century of new home starts, are a beacon for retirees up the Northeast coast.

"Eleven thousand a day," Helms says. "That's how many people retire every day."

Even the new kid on the block, Compass Pointe in Leland, has a direct bead on the Northeast market.

"It's 90 percent of our homeowners," says Bert Exum, the operations manager at Compass Pointe, which opened in April 2009 and already has closed 345 properties. Previously, he worked at nearby Waterford, and has teamed up over the years with Bobby Harrelson, a veteran developer who also did Magnolia Greens. "We're in a group with St. James and Brunswick and others who all market the Wilmington-Brunswick County area together. We go to expositions together in the Northeast.

"That may sound odd, but it doesn't hurt for each of us to pitch the other person's communities because we're all selling the Wilmington area."

Where to they come from?

National consortiums, such as Ideal Living Resort and Retirement (idealretirement.com), promotes boomer communities from Delaware south along the coast and over to Mississippi.

This group "has connected builder/developers throughout the Southeast, like Brunswick Forest, Porters Neck, St. James Plantation and many others," says owner Dave Robertson. Its live events, expos, publications and websites "have generated billions of dollars in home sales around the Southeast U.S.," he said.

That's the macro approach. On the micro level, for instance, Helms at Brunswick Forest has a staff of 25 and Exum at Compass Pointe employs 23 who market their communities mainly to baby boomers who are looking to downsize logistically while maintaining an active lifestyle. .

Brunswick Forest opened in 2006 after the Lord Baltimore Capital Corp. bought the 4,500-acre tree farm from International Paper. Depending on lot size and home footprint, the community could eventually host 12,000 homesites; 1,300 have sold in the past seven years, with 850 homeowners already moved in.

Even better, the sales trend is soaring: 200 properties were closed in 2012, a record, which already has been eclipsed in 2013.

Where are these boomers coming from? There are two fertile areas, the first and biggest of which is no surprise: 65 percent are coming down the I-95 corridor, basically from Massachusetts south through Virginia.

The other area packed with prospects requires less enthusiasm and genuineness from Helms and his sales staff to close the deal – the Research Triangle area of Raleigh.

"These are folks who may have come down 95 over 20 or 25 years ago in mid-career and found good jobs," he says. "Now they're ready to retire. To us."

The dollars make sense

But the main sell is pointed directly at those folks in the North. In the first decade of this millennium, North Carolina grew at roughly twice the national average (18.5 percent versus 9.7 percent). It was the fifth fastest growing state in the nation. Within the South, according to Census 2010, only Texas, Florida, and Georgia added more people than North Carolina, and only Texas grew at a faster rate. Above the Mason-Dixon Line, the states contributing the most to North Carolina's population pop are New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

While lower taxes, less traffic, better weather, a plethora of cultural offerings and oodles of amenities are an obvious lure for folks moving from the Northeast, the difference in home prices provides a sticker shock of the most delightful kind: a 33 percent difference in existing home sale prices.

Just released figures for 2012 from the National Association of Realtors show these median regional numbers:

Northeast: $237,200.

South: $158,400.

West: $244,300.

Midwest: $143,700.

Porters Neck Plantation, along the Intracoastal Waterway and within the northern boundaries of New Hanover County, was one of the first to throw out the welcome mat to those heading down Interstate 95: It opened in 1989 with 860 homesites, and only 52 developer-owned lots are left. Additional homes and lots are available from private owners. Its cornerstone is a full-service golf club, but par for this course, just like any of the other boomer-filled area communities, is the hook of the fairly low cost of living.

"We market to the boomers primarily through the Internet and word of mouth referrals from residents or others who have visited," says Holly Overton, sales and marketing coordinator at Porters Neck. "Most (prospective homeowners) laugh when we give them estimated cost of living in Porters Neck Plantation (taxes, insurance, HOA dues, everyday expenses, etc.) because they are used to paying tens of thousands of dollars for taxes alone."

These retirees may be down on taxes, but they are high on living. The incorporated St. James Plantation has been a trendsetter since it got started in the 1990s. It was one of the first to do national advertising, including in the Wall Street Journal when that newspaper debuted a Friday Real Estate section. And it built its pitch around boundless, on-site active amenities that went beyond the requisite jaw-dropping golf courses that most Southern communities touted. It still boasts a marketing staff of 10.

"These are not people going gently into the good night," said Jim Hughes, a public relations consultant who has worked for Porters Neck and St. James, among others. Each boomer community has a list of extracurricular activities.

For example, St. James has more than 60 resident clubs, from kayaking, biking, canoeing, sailing, golf and tennis, to wine groups and gardening get-togethers.

Compass Pointe launched sales during the depths of recession but still has done well.

"It's the homeowners doing the selling for us," says Exum. "We'd sell to a family and they would sell to their friends. Then their relatives. It keeps rolling over like that."

Compass Pointe has homes built on 165 of the 378 sites that have sold. Already this year, 76 sites have sold.

Keeping even closer track of the area sales bump is St. James, which has recorded 154 closings on homes and lots in the first half of 2013. Notes Katie Campbell of the St. James team:

"We did the math and determined that, on average, we've welcomed a new property owner to our community every 28.4 hours."

<p>Jerry Helms doesn't ask for much.</p><p>"I'll take a 3-minute sit-down with someone interested in moving down to Brunswick Forest anytime, over just about anything else," says Helms, director of sales for the 4,500-acre community in upper Brunswick County. "They'll see my enthusiasm. They'll know my genuineness."</p><p>No question, he's the real deal – born and raised in the Oak Island area, a graduate of South Brunswick High and UNC-Wilmington, a sales ace previously for 16 years at St. James Plantation, and deacon in the Southport Baptist Church. We're not dealing with Harold Hill or 76 trombones here.</p><p>In fact, a drumbeat of sales success is being heard again at communities of new homes along Southeastern North Carolina, expanding, self-contained areas dotted with portfolios of adorable and diverse floor plans, loads of amenities and various safe, pleasing outdoor environments that let boomers happily age their own way.</p><p>Places like Brunswick Forest, St. James Plantation and Porters Neck Plantation, which is closing in on a quarter century of new home starts, are a beacon for retirees up the Northeast coast.</p><p>"Eleven thousand a day," Helms says. "That's how many people retire every day."</p><p>Even the new kid on the block, Compass Pointe in <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9971"><b>Leland</b></a>, has a direct bead on the Northeast market.</p><p>"It's 90 percent of our homeowners," says Bert Exum, the operations manager at Compass Pointe, which opened in April 2009 and already has closed 345 properties. Previously, he worked at nearby Waterford, and has teamed up over the years with Bobby Harrelson, a veteran developer who also did Magnolia Greens. "We're in a group with St. James and Brunswick and others who all market the Wilmington-Brunswick County area together. We go to expositions together in the Northeast. </p><p>"That may sound odd, but it doesn't hurt for each of us to pitch the other person's communities because we're all selling the Wilmington area."</p><h3>Where to they come from?</h3>
<p>National consortiums, such as Ideal Living Resort and Retirement (<a href=http://www.idealretirement.com/ target=_blank>idealretirement.com</a>), promotes boomer communities from Delaware south along the coast and over to Mississippi. </p><p>This group "has connected builder/developers throughout the Southeast, like Brunswick Forest, Porters Neck, St. James Plantation and many others," says owner Dave Robertson. Its live events, expos, publications and websites "have generated billions of dollars in home sales around the Southeast U.S.," he said.</p><p>That's the macro approach. On the micro level, for instance, Helms at Brunswick Forest has a staff of 25 and Exum at Compass Pointe employs 23 who market their communities mainly to baby boomers who are looking to downsize logistically while maintaining an active lifestyle. . </p><p>Brunswick Forest opened in 2006 after the Lord Baltimore Capital Corp. bought the 4,500-acre tree farm from International Paper. Depending on lot size and home footprint, the community could eventually host 12,000 homesites; 1,300 have sold in the past seven years, with 850 homeowners already moved in.</p><p>Even better, the sales trend is soaring: 200 properties were closed in 2012, a record, which already has been eclipsed in 2013.</p><p>Where are these boomers coming from? There are two fertile areas, the first and biggest of which is no surprise: 65 percent are coming down the I-95 corridor, basically from Massachusetts south through Virginia.</p><p>The other area packed with prospects requires less enthusiasm and genuineness from Helms and his sales staff to close the deal – the Research Triangle area of Raleigh.</p><p>"These are folks who may have come down 95 over 20 or 25 years ago in mid-career and found good jobs," he says. "Now they're ready to retire. To us."</p><h3>The dollars make sense</h3>
<p>But the main sell is pointed directly at those folks in the North. In the first decade of this millennium, North Carolina grew at roughly twice the national average (18.5 percent versus 9.7 percent). It was the fifth fastest growing state in the nation. Within the South, according to <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic30"><b>Census</b></a> 2010, only Texas, Florida, and Georgia added more people than North Carolina, and only Texas grew at a faster rate. Above the Mason-Dixon Line, the states contributing the most to North Carolina's population pop are New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. </p><p>While lower taxes, less traffic, better weather, a plethora of cultural offerings and oodles of amenities are an obvious lure for folks moving from the Northeast, the difference in home prices provides a sticker shock of the most delightful kind: a 33 percent difference in existing home sale prices.</p><p>Just released figures for 2012 from the National Association of Realtors show these median regional numbers:</p><p>Northeast: $237,200.</p><p>South: $158,400.</p><p>West: $244,300.</p><p>Midwest: $143,700.</p><p>Porters Neck Plantation, along the Intracoastal Waterway and within the northern boundaries of New Hanover County, was one of the first to throw out the welcome mat to those heading down Interstate 95: It opened in 1989 with 860 homesites, and only 52 developer-owned lots are left. Additional homes and lots are available from private owners. Its cornerstone is a full-service golf club, but par for this course, just like any of the other boomer-filled area communities, is the hook of the fairly low cost of living.</p><p>"We market to the boomers primarily through the Internet and word of mouth referrals from residents or others who have visited," says Holly Overton, sales and marketing coordinator at Porters Neck. "Most (prospective homeowners) laugh when we give them estimated cost of living in Porters Neck Plantation (taxes, insurance, HOA dues, everyday expenses, etc.) because they are used to paying tens of thousands of dollars for taxes alone."</p><p>These retirees may be down on taxes, but they are high on living. The incorporated St. James Plantation has been a trendsetter since it got started in the 1990s. It was one of the first to do national advertising, including in the Wall Street Journal when that newspaper debuted a Friday Real Estate section. And it built its pitch around boundless, on-site active amenities that went beyond the requisite jaw-dropping golf courses that most Southern communities touted. It still boasts a marketing staff of 10.</p><p>"These are not people going gently into the good night," said Jim Hughes, a public relations consultant who has worked for Porters Neck and St. James, among others. Each boomer community has a list of extracurricular activities. </p><p>For example, St. James has more than 60 resident clubs, from kayaking, biking, canoeing, sailing, golf and tennis, to wine groups and gardening get-togethers.</p><p>Compass Pointe launched sales during the depths of recession but still has done well.</p><p>"It's the homeowners doing the selling for us," says Exum. "We'd sell to a family and they would sell to their friends. Then their relatives. It keeps rolling over like that."</p><p>Compass Pointe has homes built on 165 of the 378 sites that have sold. Already this year, 76 sites have sold.</p><p>Keeping even closer track of the area sales bump is St. James, which has recorded 154 closings on homes and lots in the first half of 2013. Notes Katie Campbell of the St. James team: </p><p>"We did the math and determined that, on average, we've welcomed a new property owner to our community every 28.4 hours."</p>